Okay, I must be missing something here... if we freeze the hard cider and remove the ice, then in theory we are concentrating what isn't part of the ice, and if we freeze the hard cider, and pour out what isn't ice, what is the difference? If we are talking the legality of the whole thing, and supposedly and the law says one is okay, and what is not? No offense to any of the other posters, but who gives a shi*, really? I am never going to make enough concentrate by one method or another to sell and get the ABC wanting to come visit me for producing some kind of hard liquor that is being sold w/o the IRS getting their piece of the pie. Speaking of pie, okay, not pie really, but the "watered down" flavor that occurs when the fermented cider has used up all the available sugar to make alcohol. 1) back sweeten with a sugar alcohol (Splenda, etc.) to taste, bottle and forget about it. 2) Back sweeten with FAJC, and pasteurize before bottle bombs start exploding, and 3) Buy a bottle of apricot flavoring ( I like Brew Craft) and add it slowly to the mix before bottling, but after you add your sweetener of your choice. I was blown away at how little apricot essence is required to really round out the cider. It is almost imperceptible that the flavor you taste isn't apple. I am speaking of less than one ounce of apricot for 5 gallons of product. Add your sweetener first, and then add the apricot to taste. If you add the sweetener second, the apricot flavor will most likely be way too much, both before and after aging. Granted if you want the apricot flavor to lead, well then there you have it.
I haven't read anybody else adding apricot to apple to improve the flavor, but I am sure I am not the first.
